With the progress of the Syro Malabar Church another phenomenon was also taking place. The St. Thomas Christians who were mainly agriculturists were finding it hard to have sufficient arable land in their traditional habitats in south Kerala as the population increased. The famine that followed the Sec ond World War also nearly compelled many to look for better and more land for cultivation. Thus began the migration to the northern part of the present state of Kerala in the late forties and early fifties of this century. There was also migration to the southern parts of Karnataka and western parts of Tamil Nadu.

The spiritual needs of these migrants, who often lived in very remote areas, were not looked after properly in the beginning. Later the local Latin bishops took care of their spiritual needs. Yet they were not satisfied since they were not accustomed to Latin liturgy and customs. The Syro Malabar prelates could not take care of them since none of them had jurisdiction in these territories. Their jurisdiction did not cover areas beyond the river Bharathapuzha in the central part of Kerala. Thus the need of establishing new dioceses outside the previously permitted territory became a necessity.

In 1953 the diocese of Tellicherry was established. The new diocese covered a very extensive area including some districts in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In the south it bordered Thrissur while in the north the territories extended up to Shimoga in Karnataka. In the east the entire district of Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu was under the new diocese. In the mean time the territories of Changanacherry and Thrissur were extended to the southern district of Kanyakumari and to Coimbatore in southeast in Tamil Nadu respectively because the Syro Malabarians were settling there also.

There was also an increased missionary consciousness in the Syro Malabar Church and about the equality of all the Churches in the Catholic Communion at this time. However, until 1962 the Syro Malabar Church had no mission territory. It may be recalled that the absence of Syro Malabar missions was not due to any lack of interest on the part of the Syro Malabarians but because the policy of Holy See was not in favour of Syro Malabar Missions. For the first time a mission Exarchate in the Syro Malabar rite was established (1962) in Chanda, which later became a diocese. The Vatican II brought about a sea change in the consciousness that the Eastern Churches also have equal right and responsibility to evangelize. This was explicitly stated by the Council after reading the plight of the Syro Malabar Church , which was restricted to a few areas in south India in spite of its vitality and vigour. Later, seven more Syro Malabar mission dioceses were established in central and north India . They are Bijnor, Rajkot , Jagadalpur, Sagar, Satna, Ujjain and Gorakhpur .

A ninth Syro Malabar diocese called Kalyan near Bombay was established in 1989. The origin of this last one, however, owes to a different factor. As in the case of the migration to the north of Kerala, the Syro Malabarians were migrating to other parts of India in search of work. The high literacy rate and the non-availability of enough jobs in Kerala catalysed this type of migration. In almost all metros of India there are considerable number of Syro Malabarians. According to the teaching of Vatican II the faithful of each Church have the right to worship according to their own ecclesial traditions and they have the duty to preserve and promote their rites. Since there are large communities of Syro Malabarians in different parts of India, provision must have to be made for them to worship in their own ecclesial traditions. The Syro Malabar Church authorities were requesting the Holy See since long to make arrangements to provide pastoral care for the faithful in diaspora. As the first step, Kalyan was established in 1989. There is possibility for the creation of many more such dioceses in different parts of India and outside.

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